The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Pennisetum alopecuroides herein referred to as ‘Tift PA5’.
The new Pennisetum alopecuroides is a product of a planned research, evaluation, and testing program conducted by the Inventors in Tifton, Ga. The objective of the Pennisetum alopecuroides research program is to create a new plant cultivar with reduced seed production. This cultivar is commercially important for its superior ornamental value and low seed production. These and other qualities are enumerated herein.
Pedigree and history: We evaluated four morphologically variable unpatented accessions in the Tifton, Ga. collection for ornamental potential: ‘Tift PS989’, ‘Tift PS990’, ‘Tift PS1122’, and ‘Tift PS1123’. ‘Tift PS989’ and ‘Tift PS1122’ were selected as accessions with the most ornamental potential. Pennisetum alopecuroides accessions and cultivars are known to produce abundant seed. Seed production in commercial ornamental cultivars of Pennisetum alopecuroides tends to make this genus/species invasive, an undesirable trait in landscapes. Open pollinated seeds from ‘Tift PS989’ plants were irradiated on 11 Nov. 2010 with 10 Kr and 20 Kr of Cobalt 60 gamma radiation to produce a first group of irradiated seeds. These seeds were planted in a field on Mar. 29, 2011 to produce 256 and 135 plants, respectively, from each treatment. In 2011, plants grown from the 10 Kr treated seeds from the first group of seeds were evaluated and six of these evaluated plants were selected based on morphologically desirable genotypes with reduced seed set. Open pollinated seeds (a second group of seeds) from these six selected plants was harvested and irradiated with 10 Kr of Cobalt 60 on 10 Jan. 2012. Irradiated seeds from only one of the six selected plants survived the second radiation and were planted in a field in 2012 to produce 64 plants. Irradiation of seeds usually results in chimeras or sectors on the plants for the trait of interest. Therefore, each of the sixty four plant was divided into four quadrants or sectors (a, b, c, and d) and five or more inflorescences from each quadrant were examined for seed sterility. A highly seed sterile sector a of plant number 60 was selected and asexually propagated to produce ‘Tift PA5’. ‘Tift PA5’ has been tested at Tifton, Ga. in 2012, 2014, and 2015 and at Blairsville, Ga. from 2012 thru 2015. Tests consisted of five and four single plant asexually propagated replications arranged in a randomized complete block experiment at Tifton, Ga. and Blairsville, Ga., respectively. Seven other experimental entries were included in each test.
‘Tift PA24’ was selected as a seed fertile check with desirable ornamental characteristics from ‘Tift PS1122’. ‘Tift PA24’ also produced abundant pollen for pollinating the experimental seed sterile cultivars in the replicated tests to verify whether the experimental sterile cultivars would set seed when pollinated with pollen from another genotype.
Asexual reproduction of the new Pennisetum ‘Tift PA5’ by vegetative propagation (single stem propagules) in a controlled environment in Tifton, Ga. and/or Blairsville, Ga. from 2012 through 2015, has shown that the unique features of this new Pennisetum cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.